Rhapsody of Memories
by UltimateUnknown
Summary: Naruto assigned his first mission as hokage, but everything went horribly wrong. He is devastated to find that Hinata has returned with absolutely no recollections of their times spent together, amongst other major concerns. Thus it is time for Naruto to tread old grounds once again and re-establish his relationship with Hinata, or risk losing that which is most precious to him.


**Shattered Dreams**

Welcome!

Whether this is your first time reading one of my fics or you are from my other NaruHina story, I'm glad to have you here. I would explain the premise a bit more, but I think this chapter will do a better job at setting the stage for what is to come. I hope you will enjoy what I have to offer with this story.

As always, I'm sure you already know this but Masashi Kishimoto-sensei is the one who owns Naruto. This my friends is only just a fanfiction.

* * *

Naruto rushed through the hallways of the hospital with all the strength he could muster, with several ANBUs in his trail. But the emergency room seemed to get further and further away as if the hallway stretched out to infinity. All sounds of the people talking around him became a constant stream of background noise like that of a radio that was picking up static. His mind was simply in a trance from the information he had received just a few minutes earlier.

**15 minutes earlier**

Naruto was sitting on his desk in anticipation of the results of the first mission he had assigned as the hokage. It was a truly momentous occasion for him when he was finally crowed the title of the sixth hokage just a few days ago. He had barely settled into his position of immense responsibility and was currently having a nervous breakdown just waiting for the outcome of his first real assignment as the new leader. Team 8 were given an important reconnaissance mission at the border of the fire country where some unknown activity was said to be taking place. So Naruto analysed all the possible routes, scenarios and what have you to device the best strategy he could come up with to assist in team 8's mission being a success.

He could no longer stay seated on his desk in excitement and decided to stand up and overlook the village through the large windows immediately behind him. Unfortunately for him though, the view wasn't the most stellar one he saw. It was very close to midnight and a violent storm was brewing as far as the eyes could see. The continuous collision of the rain droplets against the window frames kept the room noisy; with the sound of lightning strikes making an appearance every now and then to jump start one's heart. None of this made any difference to Naruto though as he waited patiently in anticipation for team 8's return with good news.

But it was all in vain.

The next moment an ANBU who was completely drenched from the rain materialised right in front of hokage's desk. Feeling the presence, Naruto instantly turned around to greet the person who arrived.

"Team 8 has returned hokage-sama." The ANBU announced with a high level of anxiety in his voice. Before he could say anything else, Naruto cut in.

"They are finally back!" Naruto exclaimed in joy. "Are they here? Send them in immediately."

"Although they are back indeed, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I must." The masked man looked down, cursing his job as the messenger under his breath.

Naruto's expression changed instantly into a very serious one when he heard the tone of the person standing in front of him.

"What happened? Tell me." He demanded, grabbing hold of his visitor and shaking him violently.

"Team 8 were ambushed in their outpost near the borders and were victims to a violent onslaught. Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Kurenai Yuhi have all been severely injured but are being currently treated, with recovery being predicted to be imminent. As for Hyuga Hinata…"

"What...happened…to…Hinata?" Naruto asked nervously even though he did not want to hear the answer at this point.

"Hyuga Hinata is currently in critical condition…and the medics are not sure what is to become of her." The ANBU finished, but before he could say anything more, Naruto was already gone.

**Current time**

Naruto's seemingly endless sprint came to a sudden halt as he heard screams of pain coming from the emergency room at the end of the hallway. His body didn't want to move or witness what was going to be behind those metal doors, but he had to. There was no other choice. Each cry that leaked out through the doors pierced through his heart and mind like sharpened needles. It was as though he himself could feel the pain that caused those outbreaks, even though he had never heard her in such a state before. Once he finally reached the door, he peaked inside to witness first-hand the result of his doing. And what he saw made him stumble backwards, falling on his back, his eyes widened in disbelief. The two ANBUs that were following him finally caught up and helped him up. Even though Naruto desperately didn't want to accept this reality, he dragged his heavy body to force the doors open and walk into the emergency room.

His vision flickered seeing the woman currently writhing in agony in the bed as the doctors rushed to prepare everything for the surgery. The bed was stained by the colour red from the blood that poured out of the countless deep cuts and wounds which covered every single part of her body. Her normally beautiful and uniform hair was shrivelled and in disarray. All of her limbs remained motionless and were completely scorched from the burn wounds that covered them. Her face was barely recognisable from the blood stains that covered it. Her current state made Naruto shiver in fear to the very core.

"MY EYES!" Hinata screamed blinking them rapidly. "I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!"

Realization struck Naruto that she was in even worse condition than he realised. It seemed that she had also lost her eyesight.

"The anesthetic is ready lady Tsunade." Shizune informed rushing over to Hinata.

"Apply the full dose, NOW!" Tsunade ordered in urgency.

As the IV needle was applied to her arm, Hinata's haphazard motion and screams finally started to cease as she started to lose her consciousness.

At this point Naruto finally managed to use all his guts and rushed over to her side.

"It's okay now Hinata. I'm here with you." He proclaimed holding one of her hands with both of his own.

"Who are you?" She asked turning her face towards him instinctively even though she couldn't see.

"It's me Hinata. It's me, Naruto." He said, desperately trying to keep himself together for her sake.

"Naruto?" She questioned as though it was a name she had heard for the first time in her life.

"I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." His voice shivered as he repeated his own name. "I'm your husband."

"I don't know any Naruto…" She replied, finally losing her consciousness.

Naruto dropped to his knees at the same time and tears started rolling down his eyes which didn't seem to want to stop.

Tsunade seeing the pitiful state Naruto was in grabbed a hold of him and dragged his limp body out of the emergency room.

"Shizune, get the surgery underway. I'll be back in a bit." She instructed before exiting with Naruto.

Outside of the room, Tsunade finally sat Naruto down in a nearby bench with the help of the ANBUs that were standing in anticipation of the hokage's order. Naruto on the other hand held his face with both hands contemplating on the loss that was suffered.

"Naruto, listen to me." Tsunade knelt down so that she could be eye level to Naruto. "You have to get yourself together. You're the hokage now and you need to act strong despite what may have happened. That is what it means to be hokage."

She shook Naruto but there was no reply.

"NARUTO!" She shouted. "Snap out of it. We need you to be ready to protect this village at all times. You can't be taken down by a small setback."

"Small…setback?" He finally spoke removing his hands from his face, showing his bloodshot eyes. "If I can't even protect the one person that is closest to me, how do you think I'm going to protect an entire village?"

Tsunade could not give a valid reply as painful memories of Dan, her most beloved, who she failed to protect resurfaced once more.

"It's over." He finally stood up taking his hokage coat off and handing it to Tsunade. "I'm done with being hokage. I'm not suitable for this job, so I'm returning this title to you once again baa-chan."

"But Naruto…this has been your dream." Tsunade looked wide-eyed at the coat with fiery designs that had been handed to her. "You can't give up before you even begin."

"Just because it is my dream I have no right in playing with the lives of all these people." He replied with disdain towards himself. "Please also unenlist me from the current active roster of shinobi. I'm also done with that."

"You can't be serious. This isn't…" Tsunade raised her eyes towards where Naruto stood a moment ago…but he was long gone.

Tsunade was left alone to once again re-enter the emergency room to assist in the ongoing surgery.

* * *

So there you have it. I kept this chapter purposefully short and to the point to set things up. I will say though that this story will me more than just about memory loss. As I described in the summary, it will focus on Naruto and Hinata's relationship developing pretty much from scratch, but given their married backdrop, which should be interesting :)

Since this is the first chapter and all, it would be extra special nice if you could leave a review and let me know what exactly you thought of the chapter, or the premise of the story in general. Your first impressions essentially. As I always say in my writing, your views are extremely important to me and motivates me to keep on writing.

I thank you once again for taking the interest in reading. I shall see you next time.


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